Knitting for Boo

[jenn_unplugged]

I've recently become interested in the use of wool soakers in cloth diapering, which is apparently a very old-fashioned way of covering diapers. Before there were rubber or plastic pants, people used wool pants (called "soakers") to cover diapers. Because wool naturally contains lanolin (if it hasn't been processed), it is naturally quite waterproof. It sounds hard to believe, but people who use it swear it works.

So I decided that this would be a good thing to try to do with Boo at night. Tucking him into soft fuzzy diaper covers at night sounds comfy, and has the added bonus of being things I can knit for him. I went looking for patterns and found two I wanted to try: the Curly Purly pattern and the Sheepy Pants pattern. I dug into my wool stash and knitted one of each.



The Sheepy pants are on the left and the Curly Purly pants are on the right. They were actually quite easy to make and quick to knit up. I made these in newborn sizes, thinking that they're probably stretchy enough that I'll be able to use them for a few weeks at least. I'll probably go ahead and make a few pairs in the next size up too. The Sheepy pants have a lot of options (as you can see on the linked page above) to choose from, so the pattern is quite flexible. I think this will be a good opportunity for me to try out some things I've been putting off trying, like knitting in color designs. I've seen really cute soakers for holidays, soakers with flowers and animals knitted in, and so on. They knit up quickly and the yarn is fairly cheap, so I think this will be fun. :-)

This link was posted today on a CD mailing list I subscribe to: A History of Diapers. Pretty interesting!


In other news, my sister found out today that her baby is a girl!

Comments

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

Love your wool diapers! :) Yea for Boo having a little girl cousin. When is your sister due? How cool that you are both pregnant together at the same time.

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

My sister is just a week behind me, so it's likely these two little cousins will be born within days of each other. Cool, huh?

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

That is so cool!! How exciting for you and your family.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Wool is not exactly waterproof. It's more that it doesn't feel wet to the touch.

The covers look lovely! I've become addicted to knitting those things. Did you know there's an LJ comm called clothdiapering? I've become such a fangirl of cloth diapers! Squeee! I'm hoping to convert my sister.

By the way, there have been studies now that say the plastic typically used in baby bottles actually leaches out some chemicals that are potentially dangerous. It's serious enough that the EU is looking to ban these kinds of bottles. I know you plan to breastfeed, but you may eventually use bottles as well, so look for either glass bottles, or bottles made with biphenol-A-free plastic. (Erm, I'm going from memory on that name.) Born Free is a brand that makes both glass, and the safe plastic.

[ias.livejournal.com]

Actually the EU looked into it and proclaimed bisphenol-A safe in November 2006 (published January 2007). See:

Opinion of the Scientific Panel on food additives, flavourings, rocessing aids and materials in contact with food (AFC) related to 2,2-BIS(4-HYDROXYPHENYL)PROPANE[pdf]

See also:

Bisphenol A in food packaging from senseaboutscience.org.uk

Bisphenol A: A Scientific Evaluation, Michael A. Kamrin, Professor Emeritus, Institute for Environmental Toxicology, Michigan State University. MedGenMed. 2004; 6(3): 7. Published online 2004 September 3.

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

Ah, interesting. Thanks for the update!

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

ACK! What?!?!? God, I wish these people would get their stories straight.

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

That's a bit different from what I've heard on the wool_soakers ML. People say urine won't leak through if the soaker is properly lanolized, no matter how wet the diaper is inside. Maybe that's the same thing, really. They've also said that urine reacts with lanolin to form a sort of neutral salt, which is why you only have to dry them rather than wash them every time (unless they get poopy). That sounds pretty interesting. I've ordered some lanolin to soak the covers in, and I guess I'll give it a shot!

And yes, I love that comm! I've learned quite a lot there. :-)

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Well, most wool - at least for knitting - has quite a bit of the lanolin removed. I hadn't heard about treating it with lanolin after the fact, but that ought to work. Lanolin definitely gives it a "waterproof" quality.

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

I've seen lots of posts on that comm about how to lanolize. Apparently it's something you need to do every few months, as the stuff naturally wears off though use and washings. I ended up buying a product off of Cotton Babies (my LYS didn't carry lanolin) to try. I'll have to let you know how it goes!

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Will it work on any kind of yarn? Like Lion Brand Woolease? I haven't wanted to make a cover that isn't machine washable.

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

On the wool soaker ML (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wool_soaker_group/) I'm on, people have asked about using less than 100% wool to make soakers, and the response has generally been the more wool, the better. Acrylics repel rather than absorb moisture, and so their presence makes the soaker less effective. (That list is very helpful, though also very chatty, so if you join, consider choosing the digest format.) Most people make them from 100% wool and hand wash, not only so they won't felt but also because machine washing would (apparently) deplete the lanolin a lot more quickly than hand washing with a gentle shampoo or wool wash. Since the pure wool ones don't require washing that often anyway, it doesn't seem like it would make that much difference in my laundry. I have several things I hand wash every now and then, after all.

I googled and found a couple of good sites that explain how to lanolize: here (http://www.twelve-paws.com/index.php/2007/08/16/how-to-wash-and-lanolize-wool/), here (http://www.wildflowerdiapers.com/pages/woolinfo.php), and here (http://understandinglaura.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-lanolize-woolwithout-lanolin.html). I'm going to be trying that soon, so I'll have to let you know how it goes. :-)

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

Holy crap! They have a thousand messages a month? Just on wool soakers?!?!?! That's insane!

I abhor handwashing. Then again, I love knitting - so I could just keep knitting new soakers to make up for the dirty ones. :D

It looks cool, though. I'll have to try it just for the novelty. So did you get prefolds, then?

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

I'm going to start out with prefolds and wool and see how that goes. I've read that the pockets and AIOs tend to be a bit big for newborns, and lots of folks have recommended prefolds for the first few weeks for that reason. I want to use AIOs and/or pockets when he gets a little bigger, but I like the idea of prefolds and covers too. I guess I want to try lots of different things and see what works the best.

Making soakers is fun! They're so quick to knit up, almost like socks -- but in one piece, heh. I've been wanting to try intarsia, and a soaker seems like a good excuse. That's my next project. :-D

Oh, and I found spray-on lanolin at my local CD shop today. Apparently you don't have to do any soaking, just spray the stuff on. I'm going to try that and see if I like it.

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I found lanolin at Target today, in the breastfeeding section. I've got a spare skein of Noro Kureyon lying around....